Kevin Pietersen has lost £500,000 in the Allen Stanford scandal after being signed up by the discredited Texan billionaire to be one of his cricket ambassadors.

Pietersen, the captain when England were humiliated in the Stanford Superseries Twenty20 for $20m match last November, had agreed to a two-year deal, before Stanford was charged with a $8billion fraud.

All smiles: Allen Stanford with Kevin Pietersen before the Superseries

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Several West Indies players, including stars Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, were believed to have suffered financially in the affair, having been persuaded to reinvest their Superseries winnings with Stanford.

But Pietersen is the first England player to be directly affected, with his £500,000 deal now history.

'I was an ambassador for Stanford, a player face, but that contract has gone,' said Pietersen.

'Stanford was a sleazebag. I was very uncomfortable with the [Superseries] thing. It was tacky. The public perception was that the England team had been sold to a bloke with a lot of money.'